EvoKE associated projects

Acceptance and understanding throughout Europe

Evo-stories

Researchers Engagement in Education and Outreach

Nausica Kapsala nkapsala@gmail.com

Héloïse Dufourheloise.dufour@cerclefser.org

Sara Mira and Jonathan Silvertown, smira@lagos.cienciaviva.ptjonathan.silvertown@ed.ac.uk

Anna Benierman and Paul Kuschmierzanna.beniermann@hu-berlin.depaul.kuschmierz@didaktik.bio.uni-giessen.de

Dustin Eirdoshdustin.eirdosh@eva.mpg.de

Adria Le Boeuf , Graciela Escuderoadria.exists@gmail.com, gbesc@upo.es

Ken Kraaijeveld ken@kenkraaijeveld.nl

contact@euroscitizen.eu

Agathe Franckcontact@scisparks.com

How to apply to become an EvoKE associated project?

Dr. Susan Hanischsusan@globalesd.org

EvoKids The EvoKids Global Initiative is working to support Networked Improvement Communities (NICs) for teaching and learning about evolution in primary and middle school education. In this regard we work with diverse partners across foundational evolution science, applied educational science, and educational practitioners to create the social conditions for a more coordinated and open approach to evolution education research and development for young minds.

Evolution: Measuring attitudes & understanding across Europe (and maybe beyond) This project aims to measure attitudes towards evolution and the understanding of evolutionary processes across Europe (and maybe beyond). Until now, such data is only sparsely available and often cannot be compared so that the first goal is to develop a detailed, but short questionnaire that can be used in every single country to provide directly comparable data. The initial focus group will be students enrolling in university education (and in diverse disciplines) because the fact that they have all finished secondary education makes them one of the most comparable groups across countries. In addition, given that – apart from students enrolled in biology-related disciplines in higher education – most students only learn about evolution during secondary education, this group is of special interest for educational issues of the general public. Tentative research questions include:

• What is the knowledge about evolution in university freshmen across Europe?
• What are the attitudes about evolution in university freshmen across Europe?
• How do participants of different countries differ concerning their attitudes and knowledge?
• What is the relation between knowledge and attitudes?
• Which other factors explain differences in acceptance and understanding of evolution between countries?

Our team consists of more than eleven people from nine different European countries (Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, Serbia, Croatia, Slovakia, Turkey, Portugal and Sweden). Furthermore, there are several EvoKE-participants who want to help distributing the questionnaire in their countries. That is already a huge outreach. Nevertheless, we are always happy to welcome new group members and/or people who want to conduct the survey in their country. Countries in southeast Europe are especially underrepresented at the moment.

There will be consequences Design and build an immersive game to experience and better understand evolutionary concepts. While the project is quite ambitious, concrete steps to develop activities have been taken by members of the workshop at EvoKE 2017 where this was discussed. You can check this out here, and don't hesitate to contact Adria and/or Graciela if you want to contribute or build on what's been done to achieve a large immersive game.

Evo-Stories Stories enchant us. They grasp our interest and inspire us. We as human beings perceive interpret and structure the world through stories. When we teach and when we talk to friends and family, in order to share our excitement about evolution, we often reach for stories. Biology and especially evolution can be considered as «the story of life». A great story that consists of many small independent and at the very same time connected stories of strange adaptations, unusual creatures, unexpected behaviors, inspired experiments, and unexpected observations. Some of these stories are textbook examples (e.g. peppered moth), some are published in scientific papers, and some are only known to specialists, while others exist only in oral tradition. The goal of the “Evo-stories” project is to collect such stories, and make them available to a broad audience, from evolution teachers, to students, to general public. So, what is your favourite evo-story?

Relaunch the Evolution Megalab project, a large scale evolution related citizen science program

EuroScitizen EuroScitizen is an EU funded COST Action, a research network which aims to identify targeted strategies that will raise levels of scientific literacy in Europe using evolution as a model. The Action will, for the first time, leverage the strengths of diverse stakeholders (evolutionary biologists, education researchers, educators, museum professionals and the media) in order to generate and analyse approaches used to improve the public’s scientific literacy. Full content of our proposal here. How to join us here.

SciSparks SciSparks ignites long term connections between researchers, students and teachers through at school speed-meetings, for a society where everyone can think like a scientist. If you would like to help set up such meetings near you, please contact us, we'll be happy to welcome you in the SciSparks network!

Global ESD Global ESD works internationally to support sustainability education initiatives that connect concepts in human evolution, behavioral ecology, and sustainability science. By linking scientific perspectives on social change with students and classrooms seeking to make the world a better place, our aim is to foster a more global discussion about where we are going in the light of where we all have come from.